A Pause for THE Cause
by Catori Kanti
Summary: True stories of people sharing the gospel with friends and complete strangers! Very encouraging. I strongly encourage believers and non-believers alike to check this out. No flames please. R&R please!
1. What is THE Cause?

_**What is THE Cause?**_

Okay so some of you are probably wondering what in the world "A Pause for THE Cause" is. First you need to know what THE Cause is. THE Cause is the Great Commission with, a different name. The Great Commission is found in Matthew 28:16-20-_"Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. The Jesus came to them and said, __**"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."**__"_ The Great Commission was renamed THE Cause by Dare 2 Share Ministries because a lot of teens like to join causes so why not join the greatest cause of all time? The cause of sharing the gospel with the world! This isn't just any cause like "Save the rainforest" or "Save the whales" or something like that, it is THE Cause! Save the PEOPLE! These stories are all 100% true from God's people. If you have a Pause for the Cause story that you'd like to share please PM me and I will add it. I will change all names for safety. If you want to know more about THE Cause go to www (dot) dare2share (dot) org. (Sorry FF doesn't allow other websites to be posted in stories)


	2. WriterFreak101's Testimony

WriterFreak101's Testimony

I have already told a couple of people my testimony and how I came to believe in Christ. However, I have not officially made the details public until now. Everything I am about to say is true.

Now my story actually begins a couple of years ago. I was in the seventh grade at the time, and all during that time I was a Christian. My family is Baptist, and because of that I was Baptist as well. When I was young I was a firm follower of Christ. I wanted to do everything in my power to promote His name. I was happy, more than happy actually. Everything seemed to be so great. I thought I would never stop loving God or following the teachings of Jesus.

That was until I entered seventh grade, and then everything changed.

During this time, I was facing lots of drama. Of course everyone has during this time. Because of my firm faith in Christ, I was a target. Many kids in my grade targeted me for my beliefs. They called me a bunch of awful names and they were constantly making fun of me. Now I was a nice guy, I didn't understand why I was being made fun of. What did I do to hurt them? What did I do to make them want to do all that stuff to me? For months I tried doing everything I could to stop them. But it just wouldn't stop. They kept it up. My trying to stop it only encouraged those who made fun of me. There was much pain and misery in my heart. Nothing my parents did could calm me. On some nights I had actually prayed that God would make the kids at school stop. I couldn't take it. I just wanted them to stop. But no matter how hard I prayed, they wouldn't stop. And I felt abandoned by God. After everything that I did for Him, why couldn't He stop them? These were thoughts that haunted my mind for months.

And then finally, I checked out a book at the library. Now this book was a major anti-Christianity book. Of course I knew that, but I didn't think I would actually have my faith swayed. I didn't think that I would lose my faith in God. But I did. All the misery that I had been going through, and the fact that this book I was reading was anti-Christian, I began to doubt my faith in God. When I finally reached the end of the book, I had gone from Christian to agnost. A month after that I went completely atheist. This was of course after another incident where the kids at school were torturing me. I had lost my full faith in God after that. I thought that because God wasn't helping me out then He couldn't be real. He couldn't possibly care for me. I blamed everything on God. I hated Him. I hated Him with all my heart. I wanted nothing to do with Him anymore. My heart that had held his lessons and teachings so firm began to harden and I threw away my belief. I didn't want anything to do with Him. I didn't want to believe in His existence anymore.

And that's exactly what I got.

However, when I became an atheist, I suddenly felt this happiness in me. I felt this longing inside. A longing for something that I didn't have but felt I desperately needed. Something inside said that it was God that I was missing. But I didn't want to admit it, not even to myself. I had managed to convince myself that I was happy. Even though deep down I knew that I truly wasn't.

For quite a few months I was an atheist. I was an atheist for the rest of my seventh grade year and into the next school year, eighth grade. Things were much better I thought. The ones who had bullied me weren't in my grade. And I had actually made friends with a few atheists, especially this one girl. She and I had become best friends pretty quick. We would often talk about stories and writing and things of that sort. I thought that this would be a friendship that would last forever because of this.

I was wrong. I was wrong because that friendship wouldn't last forever. And it would be the ending of this friendship that would begin the chain of events that would lead to my conversion back to Christianity.

Over a few months I had been working on a story. This story was actually considered one of my better works. My friends I still had who were Christians had fallen for it. This was because I had written in a way that made it look like it was promoting Christianity. But deep down behind the writing, there was a different message. I was actually preaching against God. I hid so well that only those who I told would be able to tell the true messages behind it. I told my best friend about it and she was pretty impressed I was able to do such a thing. I asked her if she wanted to read it. She said that she would like to read it, and so I let her.

For a while she was reading it, and I was happy. But then she stopped for some reason that I didn't understand. She was doing other things. It hurt me when I saw that she was doodling pictures of something else instead of her not reading my story. I asked her why, and she said that she would read my story, but she had other things going on. Of course I knew this was true, things were getting pretty hectic for everyone around then, what with Christmas coming. So I let it go and told her that I would ask her in a few days.

Well after a few days she hadn't read it. She hadn't even gotten past the part she had last left off. I was sad, but I didn't say anything, other than I would check in on it later. So after a few days I checked, and she still didn't have it done. She hadn't even gotten past the part that she had left off. Of course by now I was starting to get suspicious. I began to wonder why she didn't read it. The real reason why. She gave me hundreds of excuses, and I found myself not believing them.

Finally the day came when I finally confronted her about it. I yelled, I called her a liar. I even made her sort-of cry. I didn't care though. She had hurt my feelings; I wasn't going to go easy on hers, because of what she did. I wanted revenge. I wanted her to suffer the way she had made me suffer. You can't possibly imagine how much pain I was in. I was her friend and everything; I treated her like my own sister. And yet here she was, hurting me so much that I just couldn't contain it anymore. I was a volcano, wanting to wipe out everything.

By the time I had finished, she was practically in tears...Tears of both sadness and anger. She and I didn't talk for the rest of the day.

The next morning when I came into the school, I went up to her locker to try and talk to her. But before I could say anything, she handed me a note. The note said that our friendship was over. And it was then I realized that she wasn't the one who had ruined our friendship, I was. I allowed my anger to get the better of me, and I had paid the price. And it wasn't just our friendship I ruined, but all my others as well. All my other friendships were gone, because they were her friends as well. Even some of my friendships with my Christian friends were gone. They didn't want anything to do with me anymore. They all agreed with her. And it was then one of them revealed the truth to me. She didn't like it. She hated my story. The reason why she never told me was because she didn't want to hurt my feelings. When I offered to apologize though, she wouldn't accept it. And she also said that she didn't want to be my friend ever again, and neither did the others.

For days I sat alone at a lunch table. For days I went on being lonely and depressed. I think I had actually slipped into depression. My family offered their support, but I wouldn't take it. All they had to offer me was "God-junk" as I called it. They talked about how God was willing to forgive us all no matter what we've done. I pushed them away though. "I don't want God," I said, "I want something I can actually touch." This went on for days. Weeks even. When Christmas came I had actually planned on committing suicide. (I know, a guy committing suicide sounds weird but it's true.) My parents were going to go Christmas shopping on the 21st of December. I was planning on doing it then, that way they wouldn't see me, wouldn't hear my cry. I wasn't sure what I would do, but I knew that I was going to kill myself. Never had I felt so hopeless in my life.

Just when I was about to make the final decision though, I felt this beckoning feeling. Beckoning me to check out the Bible that lay on my dresser. To read it. At first I tried to resist. But it was as if a magnet was pulling me. I was soon reading the Bible. And as I read and read, I realized then and there that God was real. And that Jesus died for me. Died and suffered so I wouldn't have to. If I had killed myself like I had planned, then I would be going to the House of the Devil.

It was then I accepted it. All of it, and on that day I became a believer. I felt the emptiness in my heart be replaced. God's love had filled it for me. I read that Bible for nearly the whole day until my parents got home, and when they did, I told them about how I came to accept the Truth. Of course they asked why, but I didn't go into details. I just told them it involved a choice between two different paths. Of course they asked further, but I didn't tell them. I didn't feel ready, and I still don't.

Ever since that day I have found proof that God is real. From the atoms that make up our universe, to how Creation must have been done. I even heard a true tale about one of the most devoted Christian women in our church. How she had watched an angel come and take her mother to Heaven. She had apparently been praying by her mother's death bed. God allowed her to see because she was so devoted. An angel appeared at her mother's bedside, and took her mother's soul by the hand. And then the sky above her opened, and the angel carried her mother up to Heaven, and God was there standing there to welcome her mother. And it was then I learned that God's promises are always held true, he'll never break them.

So when Christmas break ended, I went back to school as a believer. I began praying to God, asking him if he would help me find new friends. I had recently read that God never takes something away from us without repaying twice as much better. I prayed that he would do the same. And he did! He brought me to my best friend in the entire world. She and I were only acquaintances when we first met, but God took that acquaintanceship and turned it into a friendship that will last forever.

Every now and then, I will still have a nightmare about Satan. He will sometimes come to me in my dreams, and beg me to come back. He gives me false promises, and he sounds very convincing. And once in a while I would actually start to think about taking him up on his offer. But then I will stop and bring myself back to reality. Never once had Satan done me anything. Even though I didn't believe in Satan when I was an atheist, I was still enslaved to him. And never once was I ever truly happy with my life. One day when he was trying to tempt me back and I was considering it, I suddenly said to myself, "Wait a second, what am I thinking? What good has Satan done me at all? None." And then I turned away from him. And now after a few days, I can truly say that I am free from Satan. I know that God is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. I would rather not be a part of any other these things. I am glad to be a servant of God, the One who served me and saved me too many times to count. I owe a debt to Him that sometimes feels like I can't pay. But then I remember that my faith alone is enough.

**A/N: All I can say is wow, this is an amazing testimony. Thank you to WriterFreak101 for sharing this and allowing me to post this. Check out his stories on here, they are really good! The last two sentences are an awesome reminder, to me at least, that without Jesus' sacrifice we would be nothing and have no hope. But God kept His promise and sent us a savior as a free gift to us and all we have to do is have faith in Him! Romans 10:13-"for "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."" If you have a testimony or a story about when you shared your faith with someone that you'd like to share send me a PM. Thanks! God bless you all!**

**~Catori Kanti**


	3. zeldagamer96's Testimony

**A/N: Hey guys! It has been so long since I've updated and I've gotten a couple testimonies that I really wanted to post. If you'd like to send me your testimony I would be glad to post it. **

About 5 years ago, I started to get sick. Really sick, not just coughing and sneezing.  
I'm talking about intense stomach pain, serious nausea, weight loss, and a whole bunch of other crap.  
At first, they said it was E. coli, they said it would go away and to just wait it out. So we waited, and waited, and waited.  
Eventually, my parents became fed up and asked for a specialist, they referred us to the best pediatric hospital in Florida. They did their own tests and said it was Chrones Disease. My first thought was, "Okay, so how do we cure it?" Turns out, there is no cure. They tried medicine after medicine after medicine, and I still wasn't getting any better. I have been a Christian all my life, and everyone at the church kept saying, "Don't worry, it'll get better! God will heal you!" So everyone began praying for me, they had been praying for me for a long time, and God still hadn't healed me.  
"Why did God let this happen? Why me?" I often asked myself. I tried talking to my parents about it, "I'm sorry son, I know how you feel." They would say. How could anyone know? They weren't the ones who had this. I knew they were just trying to help, it was just really hard to see their point of view.  
A couple years later, still no luck with treatment, so the doctors suggested surgery.  
"We plan to remove your entire large intestine. When your body has healed enough, we will turn your small intestine into a pouch that serves both purposes."  
Remove my intestine? Are you nuts? I said.  
"Well, if we don't do something now, in six months your chance for intestinal cancer will double."  
So I had the surgery, and afterward I felt great! No pain or nausea, it was just gone! I thanked God for this blessing, but it wasn't over yet. There were still two more surgeries left, after I had my last surgery, everything was wonderful for about six months, then the symptoms returned.  
"Why must God torture me? Was I disobedient? Did I do something wrong?" I asked. I wondered if it would always be like this, if I would be sick for the rest of my life. I never saw my friends, I wasn't able to go to school, I was permanently homebound. I started to lose my faith, "Don't give up! God could still heal you!" I didn't believe it, after three years of sickness, why would he heal me now?  
And now, after five years of sickness, they have referred us to the best clinic in the country, and I am receiving more treatment. And I feel fantastic! No more symptoms at all! I have been symptom free for two years, and I realize now that God did heal me, he healed me through the doctors and nurses and everyone who prayed for me.  
I hope you see how much God did for me through so much hardship, and how much he can do for you.  
God bless! ~zeldagamer96~


	4. Marshall of the Templar's Testimony

My name is Samuel, for those who don't know. I was born in the spring of the late twentieth century. My parents are both Christians, but my mom has always been the more devout of the two. So, as far back as I can remember, I was almost always in church at least once a week. Being a little boy, I hated having to sit still and be quiet for so long. In kindergarten, I didn't think about God, like almost all five year olds.  
That changed in first grade, when another little boy named Nick told me about Hell. Needless to say, I was scared to death of dying and going to Hell (I've always been paranoid). So I prayed in the sandbox after school at my grandma's asking Jesus to save me from Hell. I was still too young to understand much about Jesus, God, Heaven, Hell, or sin, but from that moment forward I would call myself a Christian. It wasn't true of course, But that's honestly what I thought. I spent the next eight years living in constant terror that I wasn't really saved, that I was still going to Hell. So I'd recite the sinner's prayer again and again, feel good for a while until the fear enveloped me again.  
Apparently, God took pity on me. One night after church, I was taken captive be a very great sadness. At that time God showed me exactly what I was, a sinner, a lawbreaker, that I deserved Hell. At that time, I surrendered my life to Christ and I've walked side by side with Him for four years.  
If you don't get anything else out of my story, remember this: just because you call yourself a Christian doesn't mean you are one. Think long and hard "Am I really a Christian? If I die, will I go to Heaven?" And if you aren't, Ask God, and He will bring you to Himself, and make you a Christian too.

~Marshall of the Templars~

**A/N: Hey guys! I wanted to encourage you all with this fact (I think it fits well with this testimony). Did you know that if you are saved then you are no longer a sinner? Despite the fact that as Christians we still screw up and sin we are NOT sinners…we are HOLY! Isn't that amazing? (I cannot take credit for this information, my friend told me this after she learned it in Bible class). So take some time to praise God for making you holy!**


	5. Madeleine's Testimony

Hi my name is Madeleine and I'm going to share my testimony. To be honest I really didn't want to do this but after much persuasion from my friends I decided to do it.

My life has never been perfect. I never really had a lot of attention as a child because my older sister would be in and out of the house sleeping with guys constantly. I've always grown up in the church, ever since I was a baby. I got saved when I was 5 years old, but slowly my faith faded and I really wasn't living life like a Christian anymore. When I was in the 4th grade I went to go visit a sibling in California over the summer. I was a very innocent, curious 4th grade girl who didn't know a whole lot. While my sibling was at work, I was walking around their apartment and went into their computer room. After looking at some of the things in the room I came across what was some DVD program of what at the time I had no clue what it was, all I saw was explicit images on the cover. Since I didn't know what it was I put it back and left the room. When I got home I had talked to one of my friends about it because I didn't know what it was and neither did she. My curiosity had gone to looking it up online and had somehow come across more of it. My mom had caught me one day and that was the end of it. Then in 5th and 6th grade I hated God. I had told him I hated him because I kept getting in trouble and in fights with my parents and I didn't want anything to do with God anymore. During that time I had struggled with my self- worth and didn't think I was pretty at all. Then when I was in 7th grade I couldn't take it anymore, and I started looking at the porn again. I had wanted to look like these women because they were more beautiful than I ever could be. It had gotten so bad that I was posing as an 18 year old and faking who I was. I didn't even think it was bad what I was doing. I had reached the unthinkable. Eventually my dad had found out and then I wasn't getting a laptop in my room any time soon. Then Landing had started right after I had ended all of it and I really wanted to go. Ever since then my life has been so much better. Yeah it still has its ups and downs, but I finally had gotten right with God. I'm not sure when, but I know sometime I had rededicated my life to Christ, and I have grown so much in my faith in the past two years, partly from me coming to Landing. I'm so glad that I started going because it has helped me so much, it has helped me break some of my trust walls down and be more comfortable with sharing about my life and me feel more confident in myself. I have met so many people in coming here and made new friendships and I'm so thankful for being able to come. I've heard before that God can use whatever in your past in the future, and I hope by sharing this that you will consider sharing your testimony too. I'm not sure how God is going to use this yet, but I know that I never want to go back there again and I'm sure somehow I will be able to glorify God through this and I hope that He will be able to use my story somehow in a greater way that I may not be able to understand. To this day I haven't really slipped up, and life still has its ups and downs, I'm not perfect but I just hope and pray that through me telling this to you, you will be encouraged and that you will know that God loves you and is always there for you.

**A/N: Every time I read this I get tears in my eyes because this is my best friend's testimony and I am amazed at how far God has brought her and how He's used the Landing in her life and several others. The Landing is a youth ministry that helps teens who are hurting in any way. Madeleine and I have been part of it for 2 years and I'm a student leader there. If you Google Celebrate Recovery their website will come up and you can find Celebrate Recovery (for adults), The Landing (for teens), and Celebration Station (for kids) programs in your area or find out how to start these programs. My church holds all three of them and so many lives are changed through it because people are finding the healing power of Jesus Christ! If there is one in your area you should go check it out (: If you would like to take Madeleine's challenge and share your testimony or share a time where you lived THE Cause and shared your faith with someone send me a message and I will gladly post it for you. God Bless 3**


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